Downtown Thumbs: Hart Bridge changes would improve Downtown traffic

Sunday

The proposal to remove the ramp to the Hart Bridge has left many readers speechless.

What are the reasons? And wouldn’t this hurt traffic flow Downtown?

There are two good answers that unfortunately haven’t been widely publicized.

The first involves opening up the riverfront to a huge development at the Jacksonville Shipyards.

The second is that removing the Hart ramp will improve traffic flow. Thumbs up to a study from the Florida Department of Transportation.

Called the “Talleyrand Connector,” the changes will produce many benefits:

• Providing new freight access to the Talleyrand port district. Yes, there still are shipping activities near Downtown. This would eliminate freight bottleneck and thus would support more port development in Talleyrand.

• Relieving congestion along multiple points along the Hart Expressway, which is the preferred route for trucks traveling northbound on Interstate 95 to the Talleyrand district. Currently, the Hart ramps send done lane to Liberty Street and the other to the east. The new connector would add one lane to the west and two lanes to the east, improving capacity by 17 percent to the west and 67 percent to the east.

• Improving safety. The Hart Expressway on-ramp coming from Liberty Street, merging with the on-ramp from Duval Street has three times the crash rate as similar facilities.

• Improved connectivity to Downtown. The plan is to remove the elevated ramp between A. Philip Randolph Boulevard and Festival Park Avenue.

Bay Street would be widened from four lanes to six lanes with turn lanes to TIAA Bank Field. A. Philip Randolph Boulevard would be extended to the St. Johns River.

There would be a new signalized intersection at Bay Street and Gator Bowl Boulevard with a ramp down to Talleyrand Avenue designed to accommodate large trucks.

There would be a new bridge over Festival Park Avenue to the Bay Street-Gator Bowl intersections.

There would be a new loop ramp over A. Philip Randolph Boulevard to Bay Street with improved signals.

Perhaps most importantly, a new computerized transportation system would improve traffic flow and safety.

The Talleyrand port is more important than many realize: It includes terminals for Crowley Maritime, which handles one-third of Northeast Florida’s exports to Puerto Rico.

Jacksonville is one of the nation’s busiest ports for vehicle handling. A large part of the 636,000 vehicles moved from the port in 2016 came through the Talleyrand port, home of Southeast Toyota.

North Florida Shipyards, located under the Hart Bridge, specializes in military repairs.

The Hart Bridge is a direct connection for major businesses such as Maxwell House, U.S. Gypsum and Cypress Trucking.

City and state funding of $25 million is in hand for the $48 million project. Federal funding is being requested, too.

Construction could begin in 2020 if all goes right.

Parking remains a big issue

As we count down the 20 traits of successful downtowns, we come to a Jacksonville bugaboo — parking.

According to the Destination Development Association, two-hour parking is deadly to downtowns.

You want people spending more than two hours without worrying about getting a ticket.

There needs to be better signage for all-day parking.

Angle parking creates more sales than parallel parking.

And businesses can sponsor parking.

There are lots of solutions, but Jacksonville continues to lag here.

Current score: 3 of 10.

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